Hollywood actor to have a role in MGS 5 – rumour

An actor is going to appear in Metal Gear Solid 5 as “the one you thought I would be from the start”, apparently. If this were any other game, I’d probably bury this story in so much salt just looking at it would close your arteries.

The rumour comes via one of the dodgiest sources possible – a YouTube video called The Chosen One uploaded by a brand new account. In the video, which appears to be mimed to a speech generator, a masked claims to be a Hollywood actor who does voice-overs, including for several popular animated movies. The figure said they will be voicing a new character soon, and added that they will be “the one you thought I would be from the start”.

“Look closer, detectives. The hint is right in front of you,” the figure added, before promising to return on June 11 to reveal their true identity.

The account holder calls him or herself OnigawaraV, and if it is the same person who appears in the video, is referred to as “Mr Oni”. Oni is a Japanese word for a type of creature commonly translated into English as “ogre’, and Kojima referred to Metal Gear Solid 5 as “Project Ogre” for many months before reveal. An Onigawara is a decorative roof tile depicting an oni’s face.

Which brings us to the face in the video, which sports a bandage get-up very similar to that worn by a character in the trailers for The Phantom Pain, as well as by “Joakim Mogrem”, head of the fictional Moby Dick Studios said to be responsible for the title, which was later revealed as a Kojima Productions game and part of Metal Gear Solid 5. The actor who portrayed Mogrem has not been identified. The close similarity of the facial bandaging to real assets and promotional materials – like this image of Hideo Kojima wearing the Ismael face – is compelling.

On top of that, the figure in the video is wearing a shirt displaying the logos for The Phantom Pain and Moby Dick Studios. These haven’t been offered for sale and were last seen on Konami staff – but it’s not that difficult to recreate shirts.